Social VR in architecture
Tomás Dorta
Professor, Ph. D.
Director of the Design Research Laboratory Hybridlab
University of Montreal
Faculty of Environmental Design
School of Design
Virtual Reality (VR) has got 50 years old since the invention of the Head Mounted Display. But VR can be understood beyond these VR headsets and become Social. This talk will address the use of Social VR as design, pedagogical and research tool in architecture and design disciplines.
Tomás Dorta, architect and practicing designer, graduated from the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas in 1991, and in 1993 undertook graduate studies at the University of Montreal. He obtained his Ph.D. (2001) by studying the impact of virtual reality as a visualization tool on the design process.
His research interests include the mechanisms of the design process and co-design as well as the developments of new design techniques and devices using virtual reality. His research has been funded by the large government research funding agencies from Quebec and Canada.
His research has been presented in various international scientific conferences and published in the proceedings, including ACADIA, CAADRIA, eCAADe, EuropIA, SIGraDi, CAADFutures, IHM, DCC and SIGGRAPH as well as in scientific journals such as Design Studies and International Journal of Architectural Computing.
As a teacher, he became an assistant professor at the School of Design of the University of Montreal in 2003 and a full professor in 2017. He teaches PhD seminars and gives workshops and theoretical courses in industrial design on interaction design and co-design.
He is Director of the Design Research Laboratory Hybridlab. He is the lead designer of an innovative social virtual reality co-design system, the Hybrid Virtual Environment 3D, Hyve-3D.